Deca, “Mammon’s Mantra”

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Western society is starting to feel more and more like 1984 with each new legislative development, and more like Brave New World with each depraved reality show concept. From overbearing police to privacy being as dated a concept as phonebooks, it seems only a matter of time before a petition arises to stick the word “Dystopic” into “U.S.A.” That’s the perilous state that Deca examines in “Mammon’s Mantra,” the second single from his The Way Through album.

Over a delicate, serene soundscape, Deca rhymes about a state of living that’s anything but peaceful. In tight, assonant bunches Deca examines our state on “the eve of apocalypse.” With an effortless flow, he starts off his journey admitting he’s like most, “lost in the bliss of a lofty wish” trying to survive in a “pandemic land of branded image.”

Where Deca sets himself apart from most so-called “conscious artists” is with his optimism. He admits via e-mail that, “the scales are pretty balanced between those two poles” of 1984 and Brave New World, but still concludes that we must “try to break the mold and find space to grow/to build in the midst of the chaos here/in the belly of the beast where they prey on fear.”

That’s what Deca is doing with a growing catalog of work that exhibits his existentialist excursions with exceptional lyrical dexterity. It feels like we’re party to his mental and spiritual growth with each album, becoming more thoughtful in our own right as we absorb his trenchant reflections.